Courting Trouble

1925 Mystery ~ 2025 Challenge Achieved

Courting Trouble

114% Complete

57,000 of 50,000 words

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In Summer 2025, I set a challenge to finish three connected novelettes, entitled Courting Trouble. Challenge taken and achieved.

The first novelette, “Spanish Moss”, I had written as a gift to newsletter subscribers for Christmas 2024. Last summer I needed to finish the second and third, and I published those in July and August, with the collection publishing in September.

While you can read about the individual stories below (and purchase them at the bottom of the page),

here are the links to the collection.

• Amazon ebook and paperback https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FKKQBTKP
• Worldwide Books to Read https://books2read.com/u/mZMkY2
• View the Trailer: https://youtu.be/RzTINfZIs0U

The three novelettes created a tie-in Sailing Into Mystery stories and the Into Death novels, which feature the artist Isabella Newcombe Tarrant.

Nedda Courtland enters 1925 America with these stories as she is Courting Trouble.

“Spanish Moss” introduced Nedda to New Orleans with a murder to solve.

A Death, a Will, and a Way

“Poison” is one of the last words Nedda Courtland’s employer says to her.

Private secretary to a wealthy financier, Nedda has maintained a very British poise as she traveled the world. The New Orleans of 1925 brings it own unique flavor to her experiences. Yet nothing prepares her for Hyatt Ingram’s claim of murder in the hours before his death.

With no evidence as proof, she can only fulfill Mr. Ingram’s last wishes. Holding his absent son’s voting proxy and a new will, Nedda expects the murderer to emerge in the chaos she will create as executrix.

She never expects another murder.

Second in the series is “Texas Sun”: an Attempted Murder in arid West Texas

Means. Motive. Opportunity

The grime of a working oil field draws together people at odds with the summer heat and with each other.

In the heady flush of a new romance, Nedda tries to ignore the blazing tensions, yet troubling shadows have gathered.

Then Death makes his entrance, and the grim pressures erupt.

Finishing this brief sub-series is “Gulf Storm”.

Bribe. Conspire. Die.

A hurricane threatens to disrupt the wedding festivities of Nedda and Hank.

With the approaching storm are a whirl of human crimes, and an accusation of a past misdeed rages from the shadows. Murder caps the danger.

Will the hurricane’s landfall shred Nedda’s dreams, or will the death wreak a lethal destruction?

Here are links for the Individual Novelettes:

“Spanish Moss” LINKS

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FF2PTG9W

Books2Read https://books2read.com/u/bPM11l

For a sneak peak with the opening chapter, head over to the MA Lee blog: https://maleebooks.blogspot.com/2025/07/spanish-moss-opening-and-links.html

“Texas Sun” LINKS

Available Now at these links:

Zon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FH5VHQ4V

B2R https://books2read.com/u/4XM6k6

Read the opening chapter on the MALblog: https://maleebooks.blogspot.com/2025/08/texas-sun-opening-and-links.html

“Gulf Storm” LINKS

Available Here:

Zon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FK5TB4YW

B2R https://books2read.com/u/mZM2O2

The Opening Chapter is on the MALblog https://maleebooks.blogspot.com/2025/08/gulf-storm-opening-and-links.html

The trio collection

Works in Progress Covers

“Black Heart”

~ the 3rd Short story with Isabella Newcombe Tarrant!

Pranks and tricks cause inconvenience, misery, and embarrassment.

After one prank goes too far and injury occurs, will Isabella locate the trickster before the next mishap turns deadly?

“Black Heart” is the third short story in the collection Sailing with Mystery. The collection continues the mystery adventures of the artist Isabella Newcombe Tarrant, featured in the Into Death series. Her introduction is in the novel Digging into Death.

~ What’s Up with “Black Heart”? ~

Writing “Black Heart”

This story–with pranks revealing evil hearts–kept stumping me for a while. I launched into the writing without a clear idea of the types of pranks. The only clear idea was that I hate pranksters.

You see, I taught teen-agers for a long, long time. I loved their energy. I also loved their welcoming and compassionate hearts. Their idea of fun gave me lots of fun as a spectator of it …. unless that idea of fun was more about laughing at other people, setting them up for ridicule, and mocking them when the results of their “fun” developed. Mild pranks were never the problem. Hurtful pranks, embarrassing pranks, pranks intending to hurt people or their property merely for a laugh: those pranks are ones that I despise.

During the writing of the Sailing with Mystery collection, in the week before I started this story, I spent an hour mapping out an itinerary for the collection. Isabella boards the ship Nomadic in Southhampton, England. The ship stops along the French and Spanish coasts. The first story occurs on the approach to Gibraltar; the second, into the Mediterranean. This third is set in Port Said, Egypt … except it isn’t.

I decided to visit the pyramids, and that gave me the first prank and the launching point of the story.

Everything developed from the launch point along with additional pranks and the black heart required for a prankster.

A couple of twists developed. A research-based conversation changed a planned event to one that had more reality.

Then the ending was upon me. With the last words, I leaned back in my chair. “Whoo! That was fun!”

I hope you enjoy it as well.

How to Purchase

Sailing with Mystery  ~ Mystery and Peril are dangerous shipmates for an ocean voyage.

Here’s a link to purchase the short story.

From Amazon or from other online, worldwide distributors like Kobo and Barnes & Noble and others.

If you would rather wait for the entire short story collection, Sailing with Mystery, then use these links to online distributors.

Zon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJL28Z5W Ebook and Paperback, use the Same Link

Worldwide https://books2read.com/u/3R5QJR  Ebook and Paperback use the Same Link

View the Trailer here: https://youtu.be/csAe72b5X2I